diff --git a/workspaces/arborist/lib/arborist/load-virtual.js b/workspaces/arborist/lib/arborist/load-virtual.js
index 947659f177eef..b2a6ec2315a4f 100644
--- a/workspaces/arborist/lib/arborist/load-virtual.js
+++ b/workspaces/arborist/lib/arborist/load-virtual.js
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 // mixin providing the loadVirtual method
 const localeCompare = require('@isaacs/string-locale-compare')('en')
+const mapWorkspaces = require('@npmcli/map-workspaces')
 
 const { resolve } = require('path')
 
@@ -21,7 +22,6 @@ const loadRoot = Symbol('loadRoot')
 const loadNode = Symbol('loadVirtualNode')
 const loadLink = Symbol('loadVirtualLink')
 const loadWorkspaces = Symbol.for('loadWorkspaces')
-const loadWorkspacesVirtual = Symbol.for('loadWorkspacesVirtual')
 const flagsSuspect = Symbol.for('flagsSuspect')
 const reCalcDepFlags = Symbol('reCalcDepFlags')
 const checkRootEdges = Symbol('checkRootEdges')
@@ -157,7 +157,7 @@ module.exports = cls => class VirtualLoader extends cls {
     }
 
     const lockWS = []
-    const workspaces = this[loadWorkspacesVirtual]({
+    const workspaces = mapWorkspaces.virtual({
       cwd: this.path,
       lockfile: s.data,
     })
diff --git a/workspaces/arborist/lib/arborist/load-workspaces.js b/workspaces/arborist/lib/arborist/load-workspaces.js
index 0a7965ae30ca1..effa5a0cda24f 100644
--- a/workspaces/arborist/lib/arborist/load-workspaces.js
+++ b/workspaces/arborist/lib/arborist/load-workspaces.js
@@ -1,33 +1,19 @@
 const mapWorkspaces = require('@npmcli/map-workspaces')
 
-const _appendWorkspaces = Symbol('appendWorkspaces')
 // shared ref used by other mixins/Arborist
 const _loadWorkspaces = Symbol.for('loadWorkspaces')
-const _loadWorkspacesVirtual = Symbol.for('loadWorkspacesVirtual')
 
 module.exports = cls => class MapWorkspaces extends cls {
-  [_appendWorkspaces] (node, workspaces) {
-    if (node && workspaces.size) {
-      node.workspaces = workspaces
-    }
-
-    return node
-  }
-
   async [_loadWorkspaces] (node) {
-    if (node.workspaces) {
-      return node
-    }
-
     const workspaces = await mapWorkspaces({
       cwd: node.path,
       pkg: node.package,
     })
 
-    return this[_appendWorkspaces](node, workspaces)
-  }
+    if (node && workspaces.size) {
+      node.workspaces = workspaces
+    }
 
-  [_loadWorkspacesVirtual] (opts) {
-    return mapWorkspaces.virtual(opts)
+    return node
   }
 }